The Fall
by Kayla McGowan
Summary: Eden has been working toward the fall of the dictator like government of the known Universe but she never planned on getting caught and sent to slam. And she never planned on meeting one particular prisoner. Rated for language, violence and adult themes P
1. Default Chapter

Hey all, as you know I've been furiously writing One More Step but while that was going I got an idea for another story and have only written the first chapter as I want to wait for responses before deciding if I should go on and continue to write this one as well.

Even if I decide to keep writing this one, it won't mean that I will stop or slow down with One More Step. But please give reactions.

Kayla

Chapter 1: Ater

"Stay close to me." Étienne Faal hissed to his twin as the guards pushed her into his back and they walked through into the room where their captors were meeting with the warden. They just caught the end of the deal that landed them in slam. There was a snarl on Étienne's face and a glint in his eyes that everyone but her would take as anger, she knew it was fear. Étienne had been here before, he knew what to expect and what he was expecting did not thrill him in the least.

She knew that she would be smart to have his kind of fear, she had heard the stories but she wasn't the one with the noble morals, he was, it didn't bother her to kill people, no matter who they were, but even in that she wasn't stupid enough to think that slam would be a walk in the park, even for someone with her training. All she could do was hope that what training she had been given was good enough to get her though the ordeal alive and sane. She knew that the likelihood of that wasn't great but she had more of a chance then most.

"Nice to see you again Étienne." The warden smiled. A look full of false warmth on his face, it was a look that she wanted to snap at. "Welcome back to Ater, we knew you'd be back but we hadn't expected you to bring Eden with you. She really is a lovely thing. You can tell she's your twin. She has your eyes and well, she is rather tall for a girl."

"Made this place any harder to get out of yet?" Her brother snarled, if he had been a dog his hackles would have been raised and his teeth bared. Étienne would have made a good animal.

"We've held one Richard B. Riddick for well over a week now, I'm sure that we can extend the same courtesy to you with less problems. We both know it's harder to escape in pairs then alone. Though, she does look capable enough." The warden gave her another apprising look. "Separate them."

Eden tensed as the guards swooped down on the twins. There wasn't a lot she could do and she knew it, not with her hands cuffed behind her back but that didn't mean she wasn't going to put up some fight. She fought as much as she dared, enough to give out a warning that told them she was a lot stronger then she appeared. She twisted and kicked one man in the groin and another who had come from behind her ended up with a broken nose when the back of her head connected with his face. That was when the shock stick was jammed into her ribs and she fell into waiting arms. They weren't going to put up with her shit!

"We know how fond you are of your sister Étienne, the two of you have quite the reputation for trouble. Tell me, how did she manage a whole sic months without you last time you graced us with your presence Étienne?" The warden talked as he walked around her. "You're something else aren't you Eden? You've been causing problems for the powers that be, not a smart thing to do little girl. Their top operatives keep turning up dead, their plans are always being screwed with and everything points to you. You're brother may have the brains for a plan and the brawn for a good fight but he's not slight enough to have carried off some of those kills. Those in power want you caught and held, safely away from them. I'm sure that we can make them happy and break some of that spirit while we're at it. What do you say?"

Eden tried not to look at the man while he spoke but instead focused on her brother. He was looking murderous and it took four guards to hold him back, they seemed reluctant to give him a good smack with a shock stick but then Étienne could be somewhat of a bear if he thought he needed to be. She shook her head at him trying to get him to relax a little, there was no way that they would be able to gain control at that moment.

"Were you aware that very few women are ever sent to a maximum security slam?" She didn't answer him. "Only the worst of you are ever sent here because the people in power don't tend like a women to end her life as some prisoner's bitch. We house only five women within this slam; you'll bring that number up to six. You'll find that they all sell their bodies for protection, it will be interesting to see who you sell yourself to." Still she said nothing. She knew herself well enough to know that she would choose death first. "Do you think that your brother can protect you? That you won't fall victim to rape? Your brother has quite the reputation inside these walls but I doubt that it will reach far enough to protect you. Women are precious commodities to prisoners inside these walls and there are men in there that are fare more skilled killers then your brother. If you're not careful, you'll end up getting your brother killed."

This is why she was fighting against the establishment she told herself as she listened to his speech. This was why she had killed and masterminded plans to bring down these people. It was to get rid of this that she had gotten her and her brother caught. All she had had to do was kill one man and she had failed. She had failed but she would be given a second chance and then she would not fail. She would not let herself fail.

"You have nothing to say?"

"I try not to speak when I have nothing nice to say." She let her eyes find the warden's face and just looked at him, a semi-blank expression on her face. Her lightly accented voice drifted through the room in an almost soothing way and a frown appeared on the warden's face, he had no more patients left for them and had already been told about her ability to lull people who knew better into a false sense of security. It was one of the things that the resistance liked about her, one of the things that the Company would have used if they had gotten her loyalty first.

"We will be taking you to either end of the facility. We'll release Étienne into Ater first and give him say, forty-five minutes to make his way to the other end. At the end of those forty-five minutes we will then release Eden. It shouldn't take you more then an hour of steady running to get to her." The warden smiled as the twins looked at each other, both wondering if this would be the last time they would see the other. "You never know what might happen in fifteen minutes. You might be spared bitching her out Étienne or you might end up dead. Better yet, she might end up dead."

"Eden-" Étienne said, she was sure that he was about to give her some sort of advice but she wanted none of it and cut him off as she was jerked away.

"Just get to me as quickly as you can. Don't get killed!" She snapped as they were pulled away from each other out of opposite ends of the room.

Eden was half dragged, half carried down a sequence of hallways, each getting darker and londer then the last, the aim of the exercise was to confuse her, disorientate her but she didn't let her mind get stressed out trying to keep track of where they were going, what information her mind retained of her journey down she would process later when she didn't have to worry about Étienne and if he would make it on time or not. When the possibility of her own death wasn't so close.

Étienne might be a whole half an hour older then her but sometimes he didn't had enough brains to use the intellect that they both had been gifted with. He was a little more level headed then her but all that common sense went right out of his head the minute that anyone tried to threaten her. He had spent his life looking after her and it seemed that he wasn't about to stop.

He had always been able to read her mind, he had never let anyone hurt or threaten her. That was why he had joined the resistance after she had told him that she had. He had joined to keep her safe and they had let him. She had the skills that the resistance needed and if he came with her much the better. He was smart and capable and would keep her safe. Mind, she would do what she could to keep him safe too. They were family; they were all each other had.

_Damn the resistance! _The thought was out and across her mind before she could stop it. She stood for everything that they stood for but did that give her the right to drag her brother into it. She should have realized that Étienne wouldn't have let her go into that line of work alone. She should have known that he would follow her.

"The boss would never know if we fucked her or not." She was brought back into the present by a conversation she did not like the sound of. The guard almost sounded like he was whining. What was it about men, they seemed only to ever think about getting a good fuck.

"Boss said no."

"He'd never know. We wouldn't have to tell him and he wouldn't seriously take the word of the bitch over the word of two of his guards."

The last time she had heard a conversation like this one, it hadn't been over her and three of the four men who had had it died. Her and Kelsey had made a good team. There was no Kelsey here and she knew that killing these men would be hard considering she was weaponless not to mention that fact that it just wasn't smart.

"She's something of a special prisoner as far as the people that employ us are concerned. If the others in there rough her up and rape her, that's alright, that's slam, it's to be expected but the guards aren't meant to have a piece of this one. Guards really aren't meant to have a piece of any of them and he's gotten a little stricter with it recently. The way you shoot your mouth off he'd find out easy. It was you who got us in trouble over Fallon."

"He just doesn't want to give the resistance another martyr. Every time something goes wrong in here or with this system the stupid resistance always ends up getting more martyrs."

"We already have enough. People like you and those that you work for give us enough. Make me one of them and their blood will just get hotter. I'm in leadership remember? Kill one of us and there will be a bloody uprising." She couldn't stop herself from commenting. "Go on, just try it. I dare ya! I can guarantee that they will know about it."

Both of the guards looked at her, taking in the mocking expression on her face as she let them carry a little more of her weight, she was conserving her energy if she was going to have to fight off men with a lot worse intentions then these stupid ass guards. _Stop provoking them Eden!_ A voice she normally listened to in her head yelled at her. The key word was normally, but normally she wasn't being dragged into the deepest bowels of Ater by two big mother-fucking guards who were contemplating raping her. Who had obviously raped other women in the past.

Here was hotheaded Eden, the bitch with too much fight and not enough sense. Since she hit puberty, there had been a small split in her personality, nothing too huge but those who knew her best knew which Eden it was they were talking to by her behavior. One side protected the other side, one side was smart, sensible and loving and the other side was cold, tough and also smart but in a different way. In a cold, heartless, manipulative way.

Eden was just protecting herself, protecting her own sensitive side, the side that could be hurt and that made her vulnerable. There were times when she wished she could just get rid of the side of her that had so often made her want to curl up in a small ball and cry away her life. She hated her weak side almost as much as she protected it.

"Watch it bitch! You're under our jurisdiction now; your resistance buddies can't help you or reach you here. We've scrambled the messages those stupid mercs sent us; they don't even know where you are. How could they? You think that we're all so stupid but we have you in our facility and none of your people know where you are."

Eden started to laugh before she could stop herself and once the laughter had started, there was no turning back. The resistance knew exactly where she was and how it had come about that she had gotten there. These slam people really were as stupid as Étienne had said.

"What the fuck do you have to laugh about?"

"This whole thing just amuses me gents." She answered with a shake of her head. Kane had been right, the implants that both her and Étienne had had put in them when they joined the resistance was untraceable and undetectable. Slam people were stupid pricks!

"I'll give you something to laugh about you dirty little whore!" Eden was backhanded across her face and the metallic flavor of blood filled her mouth. Her own teeth had split the inside of her lip open and blood was a flavor that she did not like.

"I'm not a whore." She spat blood and saliva out of her mouth.

"No, you're just a stupid little bitch." The guard who spoke looked over at the silent one as they stopped in front of an iron grid that when opened would be her passage into Ater. "How much time before we set her loose? Any sign of her idiot brother yet?"

She kept herself from saying anything that time though she thought she was going to blow completely. They could say whatever shit they wanted to about her but when it came to Étienne, they had better keep their mouths shut or she would find them down a dark ally way one day.

"Five minutes and no." The other guard answered.

"Looks like she's attracting some interest too."

She was attracting interest as well. The word had gone out in slam a good forty minutes ago that they were about to be joined by two new people, an old escapee and a new prisoner, a female prisoner. There were already about five men standing looking at her from the other side of the grate. Men, she was sure, would like nothing better then to fuck her senseless. "_Women are precious commodities to prisoners inside these walls."_ The warden's words floated back to her and they were not all that comforting at that moment.

"_Come on Eden baby, time to protect yourself."_ She thought as she stood up to her full five foot eleven height and pulled her shoulders back so she was standing at attention, her eyes scanning the men, trying to work out who would attack first. _"Where the hell are you Étienne? No! Don't think about Étienne, worry about him later, he'll be fine; he knows what he's doing and where he's going. Concentrate on getting through this alive."_

That was when she saw him, standing back from the rest, muscles obvious but in her eyes not unsightly; she liked a man with a lot of muscle. He had to be about six two, three inches smaller then Étienne, his shined eyes looked in her direction with interest but she could tell that he had already made his assessment of her and was moving on to the guards and the grate that she was standing behind. He was planning something, maybe not something for that moment but the workings of a plan were on his face. But the look changed to one of neutrality so fast that she couldn't help but wonder if she had actually seen it at all.

Guard number one moved behind her and unlocked the handcuffs while guard number two took out his blaster and pointed it through the grate while his friend unlocked the padlock on the door and punched in the codes that would make the grate open.

He was still watching, his silver blue shined eyes looking over her with interest as one of the guards gave her an almost sympathetic look as she had to spit again to get the taste of blood out of her mouth. This was going to get nasty fast, one of the fuckers on the other side was already inching closer to the access, though, he wasn't the fucker that she had expected to come at her first.

"_God preserve me and get Étienne here as quick as you can."_ She prayed slightly, Kelsey crossing her mind one more time, wondering for a moment if this was how she felt before she had been thrown in Crematoria. Kelsey had left that place, a shell of the person that she had been before. She blinked slowly and pulled her focus away from the past, the past could only hurt her now.

The somewhat slighter figure of another female caught her attention out of the corner of her eye but she stared unblinkingly at the men in front of her, the other women around here were just as curious as the men then but she couldn't help but hope that they would cause her hell of a lot less hassle. She cracked her neck quickly as the door in front of her was opened and a heavy metal object was thrust into her hand as she was pushed through it.

"Good luck." The guard who had handed her the length of pipe said as he closed the door behind him, the sound of metal on metal the only sound around her for a moment. The realization that she was in deep shit not far behind the echo of the sound.

"What did you do that for?" His companion whined.

"For a little light entertainment." He was answered as the first man advanced on her and she watched him intently, waiting for him to make a move as she tested the weight of her new weapon. She reminded herself to thank the kind guard in some way later; maybe a shiv to the throat would go down nicely. Her senses went on high alert as he rushed her and she swung out with that pipe as hard as she could, cracking his jaw and sending him flying away from her.

She went with the momentum and kicked one of the men waiting for his shot in the gut, a move that he hadn't been expecting while she jabbed another man in the throat with the pipe. Both went down and more prisoners came out to either join in the fun or enjoy the show. Her head was pounding trying to keep tabs on them all but she forced herself to focus as arms encircled her from behind and she scrapped the thick heal of her boot down his shine as she let the pipe slide through her hand so that she could hit him in the stomach with it at the same time as she let her elbow connect with his ribs and her other leg kicked his feet out from underneath him.

He let go of her with a grunt as two men came at her at the same time. These two were a little more weary of her and their attack was a little less gung-ho and more fluid like they knew what they were up to. Maybe two men after then she was faced with a well built man who had the look of a natural born fighter to him and received a nice cut on her shoulder and a punch to the face before she managed to place the right smack with her pipe. She was getting into the elite of Ater. Shit and she was getting tired, walking around for forty-five minutes and not to mention the less then restful last portion of her journey to the planet that housed Ater and the small fight in the warden's office didn't help the whole situation, her body was pissed at her.

"_You'll be more pissed if you're raped and dead."_ She told herself as her ears reverberated with the cracking sound that her pipe against another man's head made. She wished that they had let her move on down the hall a little more but no such luck, they were keeping her very much in one place and they would know that after fighting full on like that for nearly ten minutes she would be pushing extremely tired if not exhausted.

She dealt with three others before the tide stopped and no one else made to move toward her. The man whom she had noticed earlier was still just watching her, everyone else giving him a wide berth, as he stood there, relaxed as anything and it pissed her off. She didn't waste her time with growling or threatening movements; she just stood there and started to catch her breath, the pipe in her hand her only comfort.

He was still assessing her, she realized but there seemed no intent to do her harm on his face as he watched. But then maybe he was just waiting till she had no more fight left in her. That was a better plan then the pricks who had come at her first had had, but she got the impression that, that particular man could kill anyone he wanted without much hassle at all. Fresh or not, she would be no match for him and that thought scared her slightly.

Another man caught her around her middle as two rushed in at one time, one of the men running toward her dropped like a fly, a small handmade blade sticking out of the side of his neck but the other man kept coming. She kicked her feet off the ground, using the man behind her as leverage to boot the other guy in the face and chest as the man holding her squeezed with his arms trying to force the breath from her lungs, she threw herself backward with all of her might as her feet touched the ground again.

The move had the desired effect and the man behind her went toppling backward as a slight woman rushed out to retrieve the blade and then darted away again, more then likely undetected by the big men around her, only problem was that she toppled backward with him and she didn't roll away fast enough before he had her pinned under him again.

"_No!"_ Her mind screamed, her situation was desperate and a low rumble let out of the back of her throat as she refused to let him get her in a position where he could get underneath her clothes and then there was a roar and he was thrown off her. If she had been anywhere other then Ater and her brother had showed up, with white rage on his face because he had seen her being hurt she would have cried with relief but she was in Ater and there would be no tears. "Étienne?" She whispered breathlessly as she got to her feet and stood beside him.

"Not here, not now." He answered her flatly as he put up a defensive stance and the men around them seemed to look at her now with less eagerness. They started to peal away, one by one until there were only four figures left standing there, the twins, the man built like a tank and the slight women standing in the shadows, unwilling to show herself but her presence was tangible. With a smirk on his face the big man left them to their peace, a low chuckle the only sound he made as he left and it set a chill in Eden's heart. He was a man that she didn't want to meet again, at least not alone. After the man had left the woman showed herself.

"Welcome back to Ater Étienne." She said, looking him up and down and Eden felt her brother tense in a way that she knew well. He had been involved with this woman before, something had happened between them the last time that he had been in there. "You're sister was doing a good job by herself. Got a bit of brawn that one. I hope that her spirit isn't broken easily, you have to get her out of her before that happens."

"Fallon-?" Étienne said as he put a hand on his sister's arm. He needed the contact; she could tell just by his presence that he knew how close he had been to loosing her. She was strong and capable but she couldn't fight forever. The girl's words confirmed that.

"Like I said Étienne, welcome back." Fallon didn't let him say any more to her before she turned away from them and started to walk away before turning slightly. "Your old cell is unused. Might be a good place to keep yourself. And you," She addressed Eden. "Turn into a shadow. That's the best advice I can give you." Then she disappeared, molding into the shadows and becoming invisible.


	2. Settling In

Hey all, yes I am still writing this one. No I didn't forget about it though I wouldn't be surprised if people thought that I had. Thanks to all of my reviewers, Pendragon4, Arche De Katze, Philosopher Fictionist and Sarai Sumner. Please continue with the reviews and I love to read your thoughts.

Kayla

Chapter 2: Settling In.

Walking through Ater's hallways and enduring the leers and comments of her fellow inmates Eden couldn't wonder how much longer she was going to last in this place. She was a tough girl, no one would dispute that, she was one of the toughest. She didn't get squeamish or funny at the sight of blood, killing didn't bother her and she was able to hold her emotions in check if she had to but she wasn't prepared for slam.

She was surrounded by men, big, mother fucking men, men who would pose a serious test of her skills, men who wanted nothing more then to rape her and use her. Eden let an angry growl escape her throat and then felt Étienne's hand on her lower back. He had heard her and she was in no doubt that he understood what the growl was for.

The whole thing had been so clear cut, the mission challenging but not impossible, not above her skill and she had got caught. She had actually been stupid enough to get caught but it wasn't just her that she had gotten caught. She grimaced. She had been telling the truth when she told them that she was willing to die for the cause, she was, only she hadn't figured on ending her days in slam. She had envisioned a gunshot wound to the back or head or a stabbing, not what would be dealt out to her by the convicts in slam. The idea of being used to death was not one that was exactly appealing to her.

Her brother was guiding her without her even thinking about it. The hand on her back would press more in one direction then the other when they came to a turning point and she would move in the direction that the pressure was pointing her in. She was only glad that she didn't have to walk for long before they came to the cell that her brother had obviously been looking for. It seemed that Étienne hadn't forgotten his way around.

Étienne made sure that there was no one else occupying the room before letting her go in and take a look around for herself. On the bed was a pile of folding blankets and two blades. Eden watched her brother physically sigh, something weighing heavy on him as he did do; he shook his head and knew that he was worried about more then how to get them both the hell out of the fucking slam. She sat down on the bed, only then laying the length of pipe she had been given down next to her thigh within easy reach.

"Fallon was here." He said simply but Eden had already guessed that, somehow she was sure that the warden wouldn't have supplied them with bedding and weapons. "I can smell her, wouldn't be surprised if she had camped out in here until I got back." So that was his added problem. Fallon. He was more attached to that girl then he had let on.

"Was she your bitch Étienne?" Eden asked in French, their mother's native tongue. He turned on her sharply and gave her a look that she knew well, she could feel the anger radiating off him. She couldn't help herself, she was angry at him as well. "Puits?" She looked at him expectantly, not letting him get away with freezing on her. If she was going to have to deal with him being involved with a convict then she at least wanted to be prepared for it.

"Non Eden. I found her; she was in a very bad way. The guards had beat and raped her and then she'd been dumped at one of the entrances. Did I fuck her? Yes. Against her will or so that she could guarantee my protection? No! She had it and could have guaranteed it either way." He kept his voice low as he spoke rapidly at her, answering her in French, she had been smart not to speak in English, at least the others in here would be unlikely to know what they were saying. He sighed again and ran a hand through his pitch-black hair. It would however be a telling of their luck if one of the prisoners in here happened to be of French origin.

"I'm sorry Étienne." Her words came out in a low whisper and she bit her lip. She didn't know what to do, she was sitting in a cell in Ater, surrounded by the world's worst scum and she was already fighting with the only person that she could trust. Was her intention to make him so mad at her that he left her on her own? The thing was that her and her brother barely ever fought; they were close and they did things that ticked each other off but they barely every fought. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty at that moment in time.

"Don't be. It's the past." He shook his head and knelt down in front of her, taking her face in his hands and looking over the nice bruise that was forming on her cheek. "Nasty sis." He said shaking his head.

"Feels it too." Eden leaned back, removing her head from his hands as he took a look at her shoulder.

"I know the doc around here, that is if those around here were smart enough to keep him alive instead of killing him. We should see if he'd stitch that little nick up." Étienne said but she shook her head. She could be stubborn when she wanted or had to be and this was one of those times. She wanted nothing to do with any of the other prisoners and as far as she was concerned the doctor would be as bad as the rest.

"I don't need a fucking doctor Étienne. Find me a needle and thread and I'll do it myself, either that or just leave it to heal up. A scar's a scar, it's not going to kill me." She snapped and he shook his head. "It's not like I'm going to be trying to attract any attention in this place anyway. And it's another war story, guy in the Resistance love war stories."

"You can trust a slam doc Eden. He knows that if he screws up he ends up dead." Étienne said evenly but didn't have the heart to force her to do anything she didn't want to at that moment. There would be time for that later; the best thing for her to probably do was rest and now that he was satisfied that she was in better physical condition then he had thought he was happy to let her rest. "You did good out there Eden. I don't think I've seen any girl in here do better."

"Yeah well, that's me. I didn't make SIC in the Resistance Special Opps for no reason. I earned my position." She said proudly.

"Next time I question that you can remind me of today and I'll make it up to you how about that." He could see the outline of a smile on her face. That was enough of a reply for him. "Lay down and try and get some sleep. I'll keep first watch."

Eden was too tired to argue and lay down on the bed, pipe still within inches of her hand. She had been a hard one to get to trust you when she was in the real world, in the slam world; she was only going to get worse. Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. She knew that the world down here was more animal then human and she knew what she would have to do to survive, she just didn't relish the thought of searching out the big bad down here because it could only go three ways.

"Dangerous game you're playing." He walked into the cell that he shared with no one and didn't even have to look at the figure that was sitting cross-legged on his bed to know exactly who it was and what their game was. He was one of the few who actually seemed to thrive in slam and his heightened, near animal senses were half the reason.

"They're the only games I play and when I have my prisoner twisted around my little finger then it's not as dangerous as I would perhaps like." She answered him, a smile on her face. "Though you would be after the new girl? You've not had a bitch down here since you gave Janine away and she was rather unceremoniously killed if I remember correctly."

"If I wanted a bitch I could have any one of you with out argument from your current prisoners." He said factually, there wasn't even an edge of cockiness to her voice. He was just telling her what he knew to be the truth.

"Yeah, but you still might have to kill a few people, for her all you would have had to have done was threaten her brother and she would have leapt into your arms."

"Did I say that I was after the new girl?" He looked at her, not moving from his position.

"You were there. You didn't even bother showing up for Brit and she was what I would refer to as a stupid busty blonde. Wouldn't be surprised if she was actually a wrong place wrong time sorta girl. Rumor has it that she actually was a hooker on the outside which is why she's had it easy in comparison to some of us."

"Couldn't keep to the shadows or defend herself if I remember correctly. Is that not how she ended up dead?"

"No, she was getting in my face and ended up with a blade in her neck." She answered him with a look of shear and total disgust on her face. He shrugged. "Brit was something of a witch."

"Why did you help her?"

"Who? New girl? You didn't expect that one did you?" She laughed and cocked her head at him in the way that she did when she was explaining things. "I have hell of a lot of debt I need to work off, thought that would be a good place to start." The girl stood up and cracked her neck, rolling her shoulders while she did it.

"Her brother?"

"Good perception." She shrugged; she probably hadn't expected anything else. "If she comes to you will you help her?"

"If she comes to me, I'll let you know." He answered as she walked out of the cell door and into the hallways of Ater. He couldn't help but chuckle, for a girl that had been used and abused in slam for well over two years Fallon still knew how to play the game, it was one of the only reasons she was probably still alive.

Eden needed to shut down, but even in sleep she couldn't. She was still aware, she could feel Étienne moving around the room, finally settling down and sitting on the bed she was laying on and covered her with a blanket. He stayed close to her, she could feel the heat resonating off his body but as long as he was within close proximity she knew she would sleep undisturbed by anything but her awareness.

"_Hey Eden." Kelsey took the seat next to her friend's outside the door of the resistance leader's office._

"_When did they let you outta the med bay Kels?" Eden looked over the girl with concern. She was pale and impossibly thin. The bruises that she had been covered in had faded but there were still places where her skin was exposed that yellowish patches of healing bruises were visible. Her blonde hair was cut short in a bob, her face looked gaunt and she had this haunted look about her blue eyes that Eden had ever seen before. "I would have come and got you, if you'd have left me know."_

"_I know you would have and just for the record, your brother said the same thing when I passed him on my way here but it's nice to be able to walk along the corridor alone without worrying about being hurt or attacked or disobeying the rules of the one that is keeping you alive." She answered her friend and nearly jumped out of her skin when a hand was laid on her shoulder._

_Eden couldn't help but be shocked when she saw the blade that Kelsey had wrapped in her hand as she rounded on Michael, the man whom she had been engaged to before she served three months in Crematoria. Her friend's posture changed totally, her eyes were wide and held fear. Kelsey had never really been one to openly show her fear and yet there she was, looking like a dear caught in car head lights._

"_I was told you had been let out Kels, was just making sure that you were alright. You had me really worried there for a while. The doc wasn't sure if you'd actually make it or not." Michael grinned reassuringly at the woman he loved and Eden watched the way that Kelsey had to force herself to put her hand holding the blade down at her side but the look on her face never faded._

"_I really can't deal with this right now Mike. Give me some time alone, please." There was a tremor in Kelsey's voice and Eden's heart broke for Michael. To his credit however, he said nothing, just nodded slightly numbly and left, hurrying off along the corridor without looking back over his shoulder. His own feelings standing proud in the way his shoulders were hunched and the way he had shoved his hands deep in his jean pockets._

"_Come on girl, you're coming home with me tonight. And don't make me order you." There was humor in Eden's voice but at the same time she was deadly serious._

"_Thanks Eden." There was genuine relief in her friend's voice._

"_And if you want to talk, we can talk. My ears are all yours tonight and I'm pretty sure there are two large tubs of ice cream with our names on them in my freezer."_

"_Ice cream?"_

"_It solves all problems. There's one pint of cookie dough and one pint of cookies and cream. What do you say?" Eden nodded, taking the blade from Kelsey's hand. "Here's hoping your taste hasn't changed in the last three months."_

"_Not in ice cream."_

"_Come on then."_

Étienne's weight shifted on the bed and Eden's eyes sprung open, searching the permanent semi-darkness for his face, while trying to sense if there was someone else in the room that had made him move so quickly. Her brother turned slightly and looked at her, a frown on his face when he saw that she was awake, one hand tight on the pipe that had been next to her hand. She couldn't make anything out that she didn't think wasn't meant to be there and that worried her more.

"You alright?" A whisper spoken in French.

"Oui." She answered him.

"Why did you wake up then?"

"You moved. Thought there was something wrong."

"Nothing's wrong beside the fact that you just woke up. If there's anything wrong I can assure you that you'll really know about it so go back to sleep. I can't guarantee how long you'll be able to rest like this for. Understand?"

"Oui." She nodded and closed her eyes again.

_Kelsey sat on Eden's couch in a pair of her friend's far too big sweat pants and t-shirt, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, a spoon in one hand, a tub of cookie dough ice cream in the other. A smile adorned her lips as the credits for their favorite chick flick rolled across the vid-screen._

"_It's so sad. He loved her so much and she was too blind to it until it was too late."_

"_Mike loves you." Eden said simply, bring up a topic of conversation that she wasn't sure would be taken well and at the same time she knew she was the only one who would be able to bring it up without being stonewalled._

"_I don't deserve Mike." Kelsey said matter of factually, digging ice cream out of her tub and depositing the spoonful in her mouth._

"_It's not about deserving or not deserving Kels. You did what you had to, to survive that place. I'm more then sure that I would have done the same thing if I had been in your shoes." She rationalized, tying her long black hair back in a ponytail, making a mental note to get it cut again; it was getting too long to be practical._

"_You wouldn't have done what I did. You're too strong for that. You would have done something to stop it."_

"_I'm only as strong as I can be and there is no guarantee that I would be strong enough to live through what you did. I'm only as strong as I may come across when I have to be strong for other people. It doesn't take a lot to be strong for someone else but it does take hell of a lot to be strong for yourself." She said honestly. "Who knows what I would have done or not done. But that's not the point, the point is that Mike loves you. He understands that you did what you had to do and he doesn't and won't blame you for any of it. You shouldn't blame yourself either."_

"_He doesn't know everything and he will blame me for it. I blame me for it and as of yet I don't have a good enough reason not to blame me for it."_

"_He said he doesn't care, he told me he still loves you. Why do you think it nearly killed him when you flat lined that one time and the doctor told him you might not survive another one?"_

"_Will he still think that, will he still love me the way he thinks he does, when he's forced to face a child everyday for the rest of my life that isn't his?" Kelsey challenged her, tears standing proud in her eyes._

"_What?" That comment blindsided Eden and she suddenly didn't know what to say._

"_Women don't survive Slam Eden. They maybe live there for a year or two at the most but eventually they're killed. The thing is, to live for that year or two, you have to find a protector, the biggest and baddest if you can manage it and then, you do what you can to keep them interested. Some of those men even form attachments and you have to keep doing your best to make them stay attached because like any man they can forget they have one. That's when you end up dead."_

"_Kelsey."_

"_But what went on wasn't the worst part. The worst part is that I can't hate Daniel, I know that I should want to but I don't. I can't bring myself to hate him. He saved my life on more then one occasion Eden."_

"_Nobody is asking you to hate him or not to be grateful to him for saving your life."_

"_But I should hate him and I shouldn't want this child, his child, but I can't kill it, you know I can't Eden, you know how I feel about abortion. The things is, I've thought about setting it up for adoption but I don't think I can because part of me is a traitor and that part of me wants to raise my child." Kelsey said, tears running down her face._

"So, she's asleep is she then?" Fallon's voice said though her sleep and Eden let her awareness float back to her brother and the other woman, awake again but keeping her eyes closed so that they wouldn't know. She knew they would talk unreservedly if they thought she was still asleep. "Is it really safe for her to be sleeping so soundly right now?"

"She needs to sleep while she can. She'll learn to take catnaps sooner then I would like. She's somewhat of an independent spirit." Étienne answered her. She could almost sense the shrug that must have gone along with the comment.

"Indeed. She'll learn to be a shadow and she'll be a strong one at that if you let her be." The woman sat down on the bed opposite him.

"I don't get to have much of a choice in that. She's my SIC, I do as I'm told by her unless she talking out of her arse." He said calmly.

"You left me behind Étienne." The tone of her voice and the direction of the conversation changed drastically.

"I didn't have a choice. You disobeyed me Fallon." He said is voice tight. Eden could feel the pain resonating from his vocal cords. "I told you to stay close and you disappeared on me."

"If it had been her, you would have gone back for her."

"I don't know what I would have done if it were Eden. That's a game that you can't ever understand Fallon. You're an only child, you don't know what it's like to have siblings let alone a twin."

"No, you're right, I don't, but I thought I knew what it was to be loved. You said you'd die for me Étienne." There was anger and sadness in her voice a pain that Eden didn't understand. Had her brother's feelings for this woman gone past what she had thought, had he fallen in love with her?

"And I would have." There was all the conformation she needed. Those four words said in that tone of voice. It might had fooled most people but not her.

"He wouldn't have come back for me." Eden couldn't stop herself from speaking. "Because I wouldn't have let him. He follows my orders, I have always had seniority over him, it keeps us both safe. My brother and I have been forced to talk about this lately, if I were to miss the window then I would be left behind, just like anyone else." Eden opened her eyes and sat up, swinging her long legs over the edge of the bed. She tucked one of the blades that had been left for them in the bad of her trousers and brought the pipe to rest alongside her leg. "So what's the pecking order in here?"

"The general rule is the ones with women are the top bunch. They tend to stay away from each other unless one gets a little greedy. There are six of us altogether now that you're here and once we've settled on a thug, as long as he's a big enough ass, we're safe enough from the other prisoners. Well safe enough from everyone but the thug we've chosen. There's only one big bad though and that happens to be Richard B. Riddick and nobody crosses him. He is the be all and end all of bad asses." Fallon answered.

"Eden, now is not the time to be thinking about pecking orders."

"Actually yes it is, call it reconnaissance if that helps at all. If I'm stuck in this place I at least want to understand the lay of the land."

"She's a smart one Étienne." Fallon shrugged as sister turned to brother.

"Maybe you should try some cat napping why Fallon and I have a little chat? You have to be exhausted and you won't be any good to me if you can barely keep your eyes open. I'm not about to go anywhere and if I decide to I'll let you know alright?" Eden easily slipped into French. English might technically be her first language but her mother had taught her to love French, the way that the words rolled so beautifully on the tongue. It often helped put her at ease and at that moment in time she needed it.

"I guess I won't say no to a little bit of sleep." He answered her. "Be nice Fallon." Unlike his sister he had no real worries about ulterior motives when it came to the woman that she was wanting to talk with, he trusted Fallon, perhaps a little more then even he thought he should. Fallon gave him a tender look as he took up the position his sister had occupied only moments before and fell asleep almost instantly.

"What do you know about Riddick?" Eden asked. Her mind was already running over the things she knew, the memories she had of someone else who had spoken to her about the man. That someone else had known more about Riddick then had ever been good for them and it had gotten them in trouble in the end.

"Not much but then, there's not a lot about that man that I really want to know." Fallon shrugged. "This is the second time he's been in here. Spent seven months in here the first time and then just got up one morning and left. He got brought back about a week ago, apparently he had been caught trying to break into another slam."

"You know why?"

"Never asked him. But according to the rumors he was trying to break someone else out. Now, let me give you a little bit of advice about this place."

"I'm all ears."

"I told you to become a shadow and I meant it. Move around this place as much as you can alone, it might not seem like the safest idea but it attracts less attention. Étienne is going to have to assert his place again and until he does, you're going to be a very obvious target. Never be without a weapon on your person and learn to sleep light. I'll have to introduce you to the other women in here. If we can manage it, we go to showers and to mess as a pack. We're all in here for a reason, most of us are rather proficient killers and if we're all together the men tend to leave us alone. You'd do well to stick near us, we are more dangerous then most people expect."

"You don't know what I can do yet, don't underestimate me." Eden shook her head in warning.

"I wasn't slighting your skills. I was just letting you know how things work. Us woman have to stick together, that and I owe your brother."

"Owing my brother doesn't mean that you owe me." Eden said as Fallon stood up.

"I'll be back with the others for you later. Believe it or not, the food in here isn't the worst I've had." Fallon said with a shrug and then left.


End file.
